"The Song," a new reality music competition show, will be filmed on campus starting March 9.
Fifteen contestants will be judged by Hootie and the Blowfish frontman and country artist Darius Rucker, former Sony executive Skip Bishop and musician Drew Copeland in two rounds.
The judges will narrow down the 15 contestants to two finalists , and who will perform in front of a sold-out crowd at 7 p.m. March 12 in Pruis Hall, the only of the three days that will be open to audiences.
Robert Willey teaches songwriting at Ball State and is overseeing the parts of the show that deal with the School of Music and judging the contestants.
Willey said this is the first time that students have this kind of opportunity on campus. He said internships can still be an unreal situation because music media production students can work 12-14 hours a day. He estimated students will work 25 hours during the three days of filming.
“I think the real growth [for students] takes place when you’ve pushed yourself to what you thought your limit was and then you keep going that little bit extra to when it's not fun anymore,” Willey said.
Mike Tabor, a junior music media production major, wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to meet people in the industry and will make sure things will run smoothly in the studio. He has recorded students and faculty in the studio before and hopes to gain more experience and connections through the show.
“[I'm looking forward to] getting the opportunity to see experts in the action of their craft, kinda being like a third party looking into it, and also viewing artists that I’ve never seen play before,” Tabor said. “I think it would be cool to record somebody or watch somebody be recorded who’s a songwriter that really pours their heart into their music that I don’t know; ... My only view of them will probably be their music.”
Alex Rodriguez, a junior music media production major, got involved because he felt it was something that could end up being a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet and connect with people in the music and entertainment industries.
“I’m just gonna get my foot in the door and my name out there,” Rodriguez said. “It’s very unique to have a TV producer just come to campus and say, 'Hey, we want to use your facilities because you guys have some really great stuff going on.' So it was definitely something that I thought was gonna be special in the long run.”
Rodriguez said he has never had an opportunity like this before and is mostly interested in seeing how the entire production will turn out, because there will only be three days of filming.
“I figured that this kinda thing would take a lot more time," he said. "I guess I’m just really intrigued about how it’s all going to kinda go out and just see how everything’s put together.”
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